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Jo Dale Carothers is a shareholder and chair of Weintraub Tobin’s Intellectual Property group. She is an intellectual property litigator and registered patent attorney, who advises clients on a wide range of issues related to patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights. Her practice emphasizes intellectual property litigation, licensing, prosecution, contract disputes, and issues related to proceedings before the USPTO.

Last year, Jason M. Allen won first place at the Colorado State Fair (the “Competition”) for the two-dimensional artwork entitled Théâtre D’opéra Spatial (the “Work”), which he produced with the aid of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). Despite receiving this accolade and Allen’s arguments that he contributed significant creative elements to the AI-generated Work, his attempts to copyright the work have been unsuccessful.

Continue Reading Award-Winning AI Art Not Copyrightable

In response to Google L.L.C.’s (“Google”) and other’s petitions for inter partes review (“I.P.R.”) of two patents owned by Parus Holdings, Inc. (“Parus”), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) found a number of claims obvious over prior art. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s decision, shedding additional light on the requirements and burdens of patent owners when responding to I.P.R. petitions.

Continue Reading Don’t Ask Judges to Be Archaeologists

In 2018, United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) sued Pure Hemp Collective (“Pure Hemp”) for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 9,730,911 (the “‘911 patent”), entitled “Cannabis Extracts and Methods of Preparing and Using the Same. The ‘911 patent relates to “extraction of pharmaceutically active components … more particularly … botanical drug substance (B.D.S.) comprising cannabinoids obtained by extraction from cannabis.”

Continue Reading Attorney Fees Denied Due to Lack of Support in Cannabis Litigation Record

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has reduced the patent fees for small businesses and certain other applicants. This fee reduction is part of an effort to reduce financial burdens and resulting barriers that discourage or prevent these entities from participating in the patent system. Most of these fee reductions have an effective date of March 22, 2023, with the remaining ones effective as of April 1, 2023.

Continue Reading USPTO Patent Fees Reduced for Small Businesses

It’s not surprising to hear talk of flowers in February, but it is unusual when that discussion is in a Federal Circuit opinion.  This month the Federal Circuit decided a case involving whether the display of a flowering plant constitutes an invalidating prior public use.

Continue Reading Does Displaying a Flowering Plant Preclude Patenting It?